censorship

Twitter's Decision To Block Content In Specific Countries Sparks Protests From Users

By Mary Beth Quirk on January 27, 2012 11:00 AM 6 Comments

Twitter announced yesterday that they'll be enforcing a new policy that will allow for reactive blocking of content on a country-by-country basis, and already today some users are vowing to stop using the social media site on Saturday in protest. More »

activism

(Michelle Rick)

High School Bans Cheerleaders From Wearing Breast Cancer Awareness Shirts

By Phil Villarreal on October 14, 2011 11:15 AM 121 Comments

High school cheerleaders in Gilbert, Ariz. aren't allowed to wear shirts meant to boost breast cancer awareness that read "Feel for Lumps, Save Your Bumps." Administrators call the slogan objectionable and have banned the girls from wearing the shirts at football games. More »

(Morton Fox)

Yahoo Apologizes For Accidentally Blocking Protest Emails

By Phil Villarreal on September 21, 2011 8:15 AM 29 Comments

Yahoo email users complained that the system blocked messages about a Wall Street protest, accusing the company of censorship. Via Twitter, Yahoo says that there was no intentional censorship and the blockage was due to an unintentional spam filter setting that has now been fixed. More »

words you can't say

(McCoy78)

Words You're Not Allowed To Type While Playing Mortal Kombat

By Phil Villarreal on May 2, 2011 2:15 PM 80 Comments

Gamers who play Mortal Kombat can communicate online via text chat, but the game prevents you from using certain words and phrases. While it's common for developers to restrict certain vulgarities, what's unusual about this case is hackers have apparently exposed what exactly these words are. More »

there's not an app for that anymore

(Michael C Strack)

Apple Deletes "Gay Cure" App From App Store

By Phil Villarreal on March 24, 2011 2:30 PM 193 Comments

Apple pulled a homophobic app from the App Store, but only after tens of thousands of people signed a petition asking it to do so. The app in question was meant to "cure" people of homosexuality. A religious group is responsible for the app, which reportedly used biblical teachings to attempt its goal. More »

against the twain

(Great Beyond)

Censorship Shrink Ray Takes Racial Epithet Out Of Huck Finn

By Phil Villarreal on January 5, 2011 9:15 AM 164 Comments

A publisher is releasing a new version of Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, excising the "n" word from the text. The move comes as a reaction to censorship-minded public schools, which have methodically banished the book from English curriculum. More »

taking it seriously

(1suisse)

BP Oil Spill More Like 12,000-19,000 Barrels Per Day

By Ben Popken on May 28, 2010 11:00 AM 47 Comments

First BP told us 1,000, then 5,000, and now a joint federal and independent research task force estimates that 12,000 to 19,000 barrels of oil were spewing into the Gulf since the crisis began, NYT reports. If the numbers are right, then we're talking about as much as 30 million gallons. That would be more than 3x the amount from the Valdez disaster. More »

why so serious?

The Woman In Charge Of Making Sure You Are Not Offended By Movie Posters

By Meg Marco on April 23, 2010 11:40 AM 73 Comments

The NYT takes us behind the scenes of the endless nitpicking that goes on before a movie poster can be shown to the easily-offended public. Meet Marilyn Gordon. She is in charge of a team whose goal is to make sure you, the public, are not offended. More »

censorship

Go Daddy Leaves China Over Censorship, Privacy Concerns

By Meg Marco on March 26, 2010 2:20 PM 24 Comments

GoDaddy.com, of the annoying Danica Patrick commercials, has announced that it will no longer sell .cn domain names. Why? It is not willing to comply with new rules from the Chinese government which requires domain holders to provide photo ID, says Wired. More »

there's not an app for that

(Ninja M.)

Apple Angles To Make Its Apps Less Sexy

By Phil Villarreal on February 22, 2010 10:30 AM 42 Comments

Apple is bent on preventing its App Store from becoming a cesspool of pornography, according to a TechCrunch post, which says Apple's rules are a bit constrictive, banning tight clothing and bathing suits as well as nudity. More »

google

(Photo: Gooooooogle)

Nexus One @%&#! Censors Voice-To-Text Messages

By Marc Perton on January 26, 2010 11:20 AM 46 Comments

Early adopters of Google's Nexus One phone can't catch a break. First, some overpaid. Then customers reported iffy 3G. And at least one had problems getting a dead phone replaced. It's enough to make you scream obscenities at your phone. Don't bother. Google has included an odd feature as part of the phone's voice-to-text function: When it transcribes speech, it automatically censors any curse words you utter. F*&k! More »

censorship

Giant Vagina Outlasts Consumer Watchdog Billboard

By consumerist.com on September 15, 2009 4:22 PM 83 Comments

—>What's more offensive: a billboard criticizing an insurance company or a skyscraping vagina advertising vodka? If you're in the business of selling advertising space, it's no contest: criticism of a business, of course. More »

protection, not censorship

AT&T Lifts 4Chan Block, Was To Stop DDos Attacks

By Ben Popken on July 27, 2009 5:49 PM 56 Comments

—>AT&T released a statement about their temporary blocking this weekend of troll haven 4chan for its customers. The company said the temporary block was to stop DDos attacks on one customer emanating from IP addresses associated with the site. After the threat was over, the block was lifted. Here's the official release: More »

4chan

AT&T Reportedly Blocks Wildly Popular And Deeply Offensive Website

By Laura Northrup on July 27, 2009 6:00 AM 92 Comments

—>UPDATE: AT&T has a statement. They said the temporary block was to stop DDos attacks from IP addresses associated with img.4chan.org. After the threat was over, they lifted the block. More »

censorship

No More Erections In Love Land: China Demolishes Sex Theme Park Filled With Giant Statues Of Genitalia

By Lucy Bayly on May 27, 2009 2:42 PM 27 Comments

—>Bad news for those of you planning a trip to "Love Land", China's first sex theme park: it's been demolished before it could even open. Now the only giant balls the locals will see are government-administered wrecking balls. More »

censorship

Trent Reznor Compares Apple To, Gasp, Walmart

By Meg Marco on May 5, 2009 5:55 PM 113 Comments

—>NIN front man Trent Reznor is angry at Apple for rejecting the new Nine Inch Nails iPhone app update because it contains "objectionable content." The objectionable content referenced is the song 'The Downward Spiral,' which you can buy on iTunes. Reznor posted the rejection letter on NIN's forums, and then launched into a rant about censorship — comparing Apple to Walmart. (NSFW language inside) More »

amazon

Amazon Deletes Reviews That Mention Pay For Play Review Schemes

By Alex Chasick on April 23, 2009 3:38 AM 112 Comments

—>After buying an anti-snoring mouthpiece from a third-party seller on Amazon, reader Bob received an email from the company offering him a free mouthpiece in exchange for a five-star review. He noted this attempted bribe in his Amazon review, and Amazon deleted it. Twice. More »

amazonfail

Amazon Apologizes For "Ham-Fisted" Catalog Error

By Meg Marco on April 14, 2009 5:11 PM 56 Comments

—>Was it a hacker? Probably not. Was it a translation error? Who knows. Here's the official #Amazonfail apology email (again) for your reading pleasure. It is, apparently, the final word on the matter. More »

silly

"Buy.com" Is Apparently A Curse Word On Best Buy's Forums

By Meg Marco on April 14, 2009 4:08 PM 92 Comments

—>Reader Andrew was trying to post a question on Best Buy's forums, but he made the horrible, offensive mistake of putting a space between "Best" and "Buy.com." More »

amazon